I guess that to the letter of the law, the AAIB did not get involved because what happened didn't tick any of the boxes as an accident. It did however tick every box for a very serious incident, and calls for the CAA to be (heavily) involved I would suggest. Two different organisations with very different remits.
The CAA are not fools, and I have no doubt they they will study long and hard the catalogue of events leading up to this costly mistake, and I cannot see them allowing an aircraft, whose primary role is to entertain the public at airshows, to continue in the culture and manner to which it has been.
The incident itself and the subsequent statements from TVOC raise even more questions than they answer and with the CAA's primary remit being one of public safety, the future of the project, I think, looks pretty bleak at best.
hurn
I looked at the list of so-called groundcrew as you suggested. I think if I had been you, I might have kept that to myself. I personally don't regard suppliers, IT staff, Logistics staff et al as groundcrew at all I'm afraid, but I will let the others on this forum make their own judgement. The real groundcrew are the likes of Taff Stone, and they don't appear to be in abundance on your list do they?
His dudeness
Sir, this is a monumental f***up, as you put it, on so many levels, not just a single person;
1. Putting a known FOD hazard in (at least one) engine intake
2. Not leaving an open entry in the F700 pointing out 1) above
3. If there was an open entry, then not clearing that prior to departure
4. Incorrect pre flight inspection by groundcrew and aircrew
5. Lack of supervision of ALL of the above
the list goes on and on and displays systematic failures virtually at all levels of the project.
Whilst I hate to say it, I think jindabyne may be right in his suggestion to call it a day. If this had happened at an airshow, God only knows what we would be discussing here now.